Did Angels Owner Arte Moreno Make a Huge Mistake Not Trading Shohei Ohtani?

He made this mess and now has to deal with it.

When the Los Angeles Angels decided to ultimately not trade away two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani last month, it was met with mixed feelings. On one hand, the team got to keep their star player as they were in the middle of the playoff race.

But on the other, many believed that it was a poor decision with his impending free agency coming up. It has been long rumored that Ohtani would leave the organization when he got the chance to join more of a winning team. So, the Angels now put themselves into a situation where they would get essentially nothing for the modern-day Babe Ruth.

Fast forward a few weeks, and things have gone haywire for the Angels. They have all but fallen out of the playoff race, and now Ohtani suffered a tear in his UCL.

It’s looking more like the Halos made a big mistake to not trade Ohtani at the trade deadline, and this was before the injury to Ohtani.

Owner Arte Moreno didn’t want to be the guy to trade Ohtani. He didn’t want to go down as the owner to trade a player of his caliber, but his pride may have backfired to set this team back even further.

Hindsight is 20/20, but damn the Angels should have traded Shohei indeed! https://t.co/p0WwJidPhK

— Clint Pasillas (@realFRG) August 24, 2023

The team obviously couldn't have predicted the Ohtani injury, but the fact was that their playoff chances were slim at the deadline. They should have moved Ohtani for something of value. 

The Halos made some aggressive moves to try and help the team win, but it hasn’t worked out. However, you can’t fault them for that. Sometimes trades just have a way of not living up to the hype.

But this has seemed like a common occurrence for the Halos during Moreno’s tenure as owner. He was supposed to sell the team last year but decided to keep them right before Spring Training.

Now the Angels will likely extend their long postseason drought, and Ohtani could walk out the door for nothing.

The injury to Ohtani may be the only thing that could keep him with the organization on a short-term basis, depending on the severity of it. Maybe he wants to rehab with the team that he feels comfortable with.

The hope is that he doesn’t need Tommy John Surgery again, and the entire baseball world is holding their collective breath. He is expected to receive massive interest this winter and get the largest contract in baseball history. These things could still happen, but we need to know more about the injury first.

The Angels made a mistake not trading Ohtani, and now they have to live with whatever happens from that decision.